An update from us at Blue Heron Coffeehouse:
First and foremost: we love our community, and we miss you, wholeheartedly. Out of an abundance of caution for you–our staff, our patrons, our friends, our family–we feel it is unwise and unsafe to reopen our doors at this time.
In a time where isolation and grief feel particularly prominent, we understand the desire for community, congregation, and conversation, more than ever. The foundation of our business has always been to bring folks together, to share food, stories, and joy, collectively. Under the current guidelines to reopen, we feel our mission and values would not be adequately achieved. When we do reopen, we want it to feel authentic to our original intent: to bring people together.
Just as we value our moral imperative to protect our community, it is also neither economically viable nor survivable for us, as a small business, to reopen at this time. To prepare nourishing food for you requires inventory from suppliers and labor from staff, both of which we strongly believe must be paid for equitably.
Reopening, for us, would be risky for a few reasons:
At a diminished capacity, we could not guarantee profit for our business nor steady income for our employees, which would potentially force us to close, permanently. Restaurants already face razor-thin margins, and unfortunately, the cost of operation does not decrease alongside capacity. Faced with such an uncertain challenge, we likely would not survive, let alone thrive. We also know that prolonged exposure creates a greater health risk, and we are not willing to put our employees or patrons at risk, physically or financially.
We will take this time to revamp our space and reinvigorate The Blue Heron you have all come to know and love. We will return better than before, but when we do, we want it to be a thoughtful, conscientious decision. We will reopen when it is truly safe, sensible, and sustainable to do so.
Until we meet again,
much love,
-The Blue Heron family
PS: For those interested, listed below are a few links to articles which echo our sentiments at greater depth, about our decisions, emotions, and the realities of being in this industry at this time.
‘Restaurants have lost so much in the pandemic, but what I miss most is you.’ by Ian Boden for Washington Post
‘My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need it Anymore?’ by Garbrielle Hamilton for NY Times
‘More Minnesota restaurants announce permanent closures’ by Andrew Krueger for MPR https://bit.ly/2A5pTdM